Even After All Those Years
by Learlorde
Summary: In this AU story where everyone survived Endgame, the Avengers are coping with the 5 years of hell and moving forward now that everybody is back. However, our heroes soon find themselves in a dire yet humorous situation during a mission that leaves Natasha in an unexpected territory when...well, when Nat is accidentally turned into a golden retriever.
1. After 5 Seconds

**Here's What You Need To Know**

Let's just say everybody survived Endgame. Yup, this is a little story where everyone survived Endgame. One where no one died or turned old, just another Avengers story. And that's all you need to know.

As for the story, I've always had this idea/prompt in my head of Natasha somehow getting turned into a golden retriever. This idea stemmed at least as far back as 2015 maybe even before. I know that sounds silly, but I wanted to make a very heartwarming and also serious story out of it and what's more ironic is I always pictured it to center mostly around Natasha and Tony. After Endgame, I thought it'd be a good time to write this.

**Not A Fix-It Story, Just A 'What If' Story**

Please, enjoy.

**warning** for some angst, some intense, maybe some graphic descriptions, and hopefully some heartwarming stuff.

* * *

**Even After All These Years**

1 of ?

After 5 Seconds

* * *

**UPSTATE NEW YORK**

It was Monday, July 3rd of 2023, and for a New York summer morning there was a gentle breeze that brushed through the cracked windows and circulated the room by the ceiling fan. Tony laid under a thin cover in the bed and when he took a deep breath, it felt like his first breath, and when he opened his eyes, it felt like he was opening his eyes for the first time, but in a sense where he felt like he was back from the dead. Every morning it felt like that and it scraped at his mind, wondering why and how he was still on this Earth. A little over two months had passed since the battle at the Compound...since Tony took up those stones. He remembered slipping away after he snapped his fingers, and yet somehow he was still here. The Avengers, his friends, his family...they frantically tried saving him after the burns covered the majority of his upper right side; his arm, shoulder, neck, chest, back, the side of his face...

Weeks he spent in a hospital, but even as he began to heal, the progress was slow. Tony had been offered some Wakandan medicine by Ta'Challa as gratitude for defeating Thanos and resorting life to the universe, but the gauntlet's power was beyond anything anybody could ever imagine and the medicine hardly worked. Five seconds as the most powerful person in the universe and it brought Tony the closest he'd ever been to death and nearly crippled him in the process. It physically and mentally still haunted Tony, and the only person that came close to understanding was Bruce, but the quantity of Bruce's burns looked like child's play compared to Tony's. The final Snap took its toll on Tony with long term effects like nerve and mild hearing damage, sometimes he could feel the ache and pain that still rattled his body after snapping his fingers. It left him fatigued and now the daily routine just felt exhausting.

Pepper was very supportive though, and Tony's friends and teammates were helpful to the Stark family, knowing the engineer was having a hard time recovering and the effects the unearthly gems had on him were still an unknown and a concern for Tony's sake. Once the get well cards stopped coming, people mostly brought over meals which were considerate since they were a young family with a five-year-old who was too innocent to realize the gravity of the situation.

Morgan was a wonder, though, and Tony felt so blessed to have her, but it was still difficult for Tony to drag himself out of bed every day. He knew Pepper and Morgan were probably out in the living room or in the kitchen as Tony laid on his side alone in the quiet. Feeling the warmth and coolness of the sheets felt comforting and part of him wanted to stay there and rest, but there was another part of him that wanted to make something of the day, but the Avenger's tiredness snuffed it out. At least he obtained some contentment, but then his phone buzzed. Tony narrowed his eyes and sighed as the phone buzzed again and again.

The constant income of messages finally forced Tony out of bed, just so he could get the vibration out of his head and get as far away as he could from the Avengers' group chat. He went through the normal actions of getting dressed, shaving around his goatee, and looking presentable, which left him sore. At one point the billionaire faced himself in a mirror, running his hand over his worn and tattered scars, whether old from Afghanistan or new from Thanos and the gauntlet...there was always something. The burn scars did look far better than they did before, but his skin was still discolored in some areas as it continued to heal.

"Good morning," Pepper greeted, wiping down the counters as Tony entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Pep," he gingerly replied as she came over to affectionately hug him and he kissed the side of her head.

"How are you feeling, today?" She asked after they pulled apart and Tony poured himself a cup of coffee.

"...uh...mediocre, I guess," Tony sighed. Every day usually was a hit or miss, some days he did great, but other days the aftermath really laid on him. It was hard to deal with, but at least everybody understood it was because of the stones and due to that there wasn't anything that could be done except to be there and support Tony when he needed it. So, he gave his wife a shallow smile, not wanting her to worry, "But I'll be okay...it's a beautiful day."

Pepper looked into his eyes with an honest and trusting manner, and the most she could do was accept what Tony had said and merely grinned back at her husband. Before she could say anything else, Morgan came in from outside, hurrying passed the kitchen. "Hey, squirt, whatcha doing?" Tony lighthearted chimed, watching his daughter.

"I think I left something in my bedroom," she said, quickly disappearing out of sight and up the stairs.

After Morgan had vanished, Pepper quipped, "So, have you thought about the fourth?"

With an uncanny breath, Tony leaned with his back against the sink, facing Pepper. There was an uncertain look capturing his frame as he found the words to use. "It sounds nice...and I'd like to go, but I just don't know..how I'll feel," Tony informed, regarding the Barton's Fourth of July bonfire invite at their farm. "Man, but they've been blowing up my phone."

Pepper mused, referring to the Avengers' group chat, "And now they're blowing up mine because you're.."

"Ignoring them," the billionaire finished her sentence and they were briefly interrupted as Morgan scurried back outside.

"They miss you," Pepper said, shifting her eyes back to Tony, "And I'm sure you miss them, you haven't gotten together since..." If everyone had thrown a celebration of their victory, Tony wasn't there for it since he was practically dying in the hospital. So, it _had_ been some time since those that survived the Snap had been together and even longer since the entire group was together before the Accords, which became discontinued after both Thanos and after Tony literally told off Ross.

"Yeah..." Tony reluctantly agreed.

"Just think about it, okay?" Pepper suggested, adding, "I'll let Laura know we'll know by tomorrow." Tony nodded in accord with Pepper. As he shifted his weight and meant to go on with his morning, Pepper offered, "Would you like me to make you breakfast?"

"It's alright, you already cleaned up, I'll just make something real quick," Tony acknowledged thankfully, setting down the coffee mug and taking Pepper's hand. "I'm going to check on Morgan first, though," he murmured, having his hand slide away from Pepper's as he walked towards the door.

The peaceful morning really grew on Tony, hearing the birds chirping, loons singing, the lake water lapping onto the shore. The air was clean but held the scent of humidity through the forest aromas. Morgan sat cross-legged on the grass in the sun with a few stuffed animals around her, her hair lightly blowing in the wind. "Hey, Morgan," Tony muttered and as he got closer, he realized she was holding a certain something. "...uh...is that my phone?"

She smiled up at him. "Yeah, it was making noises, so I texted them," Morgan said, holding onto his phone.

"Texted who?" Tony asked calmly, feeling the cringe coming.

"Your friends," Morgan responded politely, adoring her dad. "They asked if I was you because I was sending emojis and I said no, it's Morgan. Then they said if I was coming to the party and I texted yeah, I think so."

Tony stared blankly at Morgan. "You did what?"

* * *

**to be continued...**

The first draft of this story was thrown together pretty fast, despite the plan I had in my head. So, I scrapped the first draft and wrote what I originally wanted and I really loved writing this scene. Let me know what you think :)

-Learlorde


	2. Crazy Missions

**MY RAMBLES**

I've been sick since mother's day. That's what happens when you go to New York, and you're on germy subways. I went to NY for my 21st last week. It's an awesome city if you ever get a chance to visit it, I even saw a lot of the locations Avenger scenes were shot at, like the central park scene from the first Avengers when Thor and Loki return to Asgard. I mean, I guess it's a famous spot anyway, like with Home Alone, but I remember sitting in a rowboat looking at the location and thinking this thought I never thought: "It's really inconvenient that the Avengers decided to go to a crowded, public location to send the tesseract home...now I realize the filmmakers did it just because the location looked cool."

Anyway, I'm starting to get better, but I was able to do some writing while laying around coughing my lungs out.

This chapter was also very enjoyable to write...and whenever I was reminded of Endgame, I just told myself to go write my 'feel good' story.

Please, enjoy.

* * *

**Even After All Those Years**

1 of ?

Crazy Missions

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**IOWA - JULY 4TH**

A football smacked the side of the firepit and bounced off it, barely missing Sam. The adults sitting around the bonfire, which included Steve, Natasha, a back-to-human Bruce, Clint and Laura Barton, Rhodey, Sam, Wanda, Stephen Strange, and Wong, glared at all the kids playing in the field with Scott and Hope. "Hey, watch where you're throwing that!" Sam called out, getting out of his campfire chair to retrieve the runaway football. It was nearly dark as the group gathered just outside the Bartons' country home. Millions of stars scattered the heavens, fireflies lite up the fields and meadows insulating the property, and fireworks went off every now and then in the distance. To those who had endured those years after the Snap, this was one of the most peaceful moments they had ever had since then.

"Sorry!" Peter shouted as Sam tossed the ball back to the super teen, who was playing with the Barton kids and Cassie. Not that the five years was a delight, but Peter, Cassie, Cooper, and Lila got along quite well since Cassie was around their ages now, although Nathaniel was six and still the youngest. Scott and Hope were with them, all of them tossing the football and chasing each other. Just having fun, and fun like that had been lacking for five years.

"Curfew should be moved up," Sam jested loudly, looking over his shoulder from the bonfire chair he sat in so the kids could hear, "Strange, take the kids home." Several rebellious screams came from the kids in response to the comment.

"Blow the whistle for adult swim," Natasha commented, who sat next to Steve. After spending the evening socializing, relaxing at the fire with a few beers and s' mores was a joy.

"I remember hating adult swim when I was a kid," Laura said, resting her weight towards Clint as he put his arm around her.

"Funny how perspectives change," Rhodey added, who sat between Bruce and Wanda.

"It's so much nicer not having to take the kids to a pool, we just set it up it the yard," Clint complied, but then he tapped Laura's knee. "Which, actually, gives me the idea of installing a real pool."

A skeptical and exhausted look befell Laura, but she politely said to Clint, "...eh...more projects."

"But it does sound nice, doesn't it?" The Archer insisted.

"You're right, it does," Laura admitted.

"Hope you don't mind us using it while the Compound gets rebuilt," the super soldier lightheartedly joked, and a few people sighed at the psychological pain of rebuilding the Compound since it resided as a crater now.

"I miss the Compound's pool," Wanda stated while roasting a marshmallow.

"It's gonna be an infinity pool," Rhodey informed, which peaked a lot of interest and some excitement.

"No way, are you serious?" Wanda asked with a thrilled tone.

"That's what Tony told me," the colonel responded, and afterward glanced at Bruce who was falling asleep. Rhodey friendly poked his shoulder.

"You got an infinity pool, Strange?" Sam playfully asked, having had most of the beers, "At your...school of witchcraft and wizardry, whatever you call it."

Accepting the sarcastic mood, Strange simply shook his head. "No, it's not a..." He tried to correct, gazing at Wong for support.

Wong shrugged. "It kind of is," he said, agreeing with Sam's association.

As Wanda got up to fix her s' more at a table set up behind Clint and Laura, next to a cooler full of beer, Clint questioned with a more somber tone, "How's that coming, by the way? The Compound." There was a stale feeling that still ached at their hearts. Even with their victory, the memory remained a stain, and every once in a while that feeling would creep up on them.

Steve rested his elbows on his knees, holding onto a beer bottle with both hands. "Slowly, but surely," he sighed, trying to keep his optimistic attitude.

Natasha crossed her legs. "Yeah, you should swing by some time, Clint," she tried persuading while Wanda went back to her chair.

Hawkeye gestured to Natasha and Steve. "Make that infinity pool first, then my kids will want to come too," Clint muttered gleefully, remembering the several times his family spent a few weekends at the Compound for fun. "It may have not been an infinity pool, but the kids loved it."

"Everybody loves the Compound, rubble or not," Scott chimed in, coming up from behind Bruce's chair with Hope. They both looked sweaty and out of breath.

"Wow, those kids really worked you over," Laura said as Scott stood with a hand on the back of Bruce's chair.

"Those kids are making me feel old," Scott confessed before he thankfully voiced to Clint and Laura, "Hey, this is awesome, though, thanks for inviting us out."

"Yeah, thank you," Hope second warmly.

"It's our pleasure!" Laura replied, "Thanks for coming."

"Here," Sam encouraged, pulling out an unopened beer bottle from the stash under his chair and holding it out towards Scott, "Have some more beer."

"Oh my god...how many do you have under there?" Natasha asked Sam with a dumbfounded expression.

"A lot," Steve answered since Sam didn't hear her.

"Nah, I probably shouldn't," Scott kindly turned down.

"I will," Hope said, taking the beer and bottle cap opener Sam was handing out and sat down next to Cap.

"Strange is your ride home, anyway, so it's not like you'll be driving," Sam reminded, gesturing to Strange and Wong.

Scott gawked at Strange and Wong with consideration. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess it's okay," Scott finally said, also taking a beer from Sam as he followed Hope and settled down in the chair beside her.

"By the way, speaking of the Compound, I didn't realize Stark designed it," Scott mumbled, prying off the beer's cap.

"You know we're talking about a guy that built a suit of armor and designed most of our gear, and the Quinjets," Bruce conveyed before yawning.

"Hey, he's alive," Rhodey said with satire.

"Oh, ha ha," the scientist bantered dully.

Persisting with Scott's conversation, Steve said, indicating with his beer, "And you just realized..."

"Hey, hey, cut me some slack," Scott waved off before briefly motioning his hand at Clint and Laura, "Do you passing that s' more stuff?"

"Yes, I mind," Clint joked, reaching behind him to grab the s' more supplies and passed it around the circle until it was delivered to Scott.

"Such a puppy," Nat said, imitating Rocket's term for Scott as she watched him eat a plain marshmallow before putting one on a skewer over the flames.

"He hasn't been back to the Compound, has he?" Clint questioned, returning to the Compound topic.

It was Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey that mostly exchanged more serious looks. "No, not since...you know," Rhodey trailed off, knowing Clint was referring to Tony. Whenever the battle with Thanos was brought up, it was done so in a light manner since that day was still fresh in their minds and pervaded haunting dreams. "If he has any input on the rebuilding, he'll usually just send them over in a message," Rhodey finished, crossing his arms and trying to get the image of Tony on his deathbed out of his head.

"Yeah, he pulled out and sent us blueprints for the new Compound, but I think Pepper hired all the contractors," Bruce shared.

"Yeah, she did," Rhodey confirmed with a nod.

Scott pondered, building his s' more, "Is it much different from the old one?"

"Just an infinity pool," Sam slipped in, trying to ease the mood.

Despite the indirect gloomy conversation, Rhodey was relieved to receive a text from Tony saying: _Could you use 3 more?_ "Hey, looks like the rest of us are coming after all," Rhodey announced, which immediately brightened everybody's spirits. "Do you mind doing your magic trick, Strange?"

To his credit, Strange did a great job of not looking offended with all the jokes that flew his way. "I'll do it," Wong volunteered, getting up and clearing a few feet away from the group. With the sparks creating a rift, Wong opened a portal and the Starks walked through.

"Uh oh, Winter is Coming," Sam declared.

"That's funny," Tony asserted to Sam, "But no, it's not, Winter's done. It's over."

"Goodbye, Winter," Sam said in a very underwhelming tone.

"Wong, hey, good to see you!" Pepper greeted as Rhodey came over and gave Tony a brotherly hug. "That is way easier than flying."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we were just invited to transport everyone," Strange half-heartedly articulated as Wong sat back down.

"That's not true," Natasha attempted to reconcile as Rhodey and Clint set up three more camping chairs for Tony, Pepper, and Morgan.

"I came for the free beer," Wong avowed.

Pepper sat down in the chair next to Clint's looking exhausted, meanwhile Morgan followed Rhodey over to the snack and drink table where some glowsticks were. "You're an honest man, Wong," Tony complimented, still standing as he addressed to the group with a hand wave, "Hey, folks."

"Glad you guys could make it," Clint acclaimed, while many more welcoming notions were spoken from around the fire.

"We couldn't miss Steve's holiday," Tony said.

"Wow," the soldier replied nearly embarrassed as Sam started clapping for Captain America.

"Hey, there's still some food on the table in the house if you guys are hungry," Laura advocated as Clint returned to his chair beside her. "There's mostly you're classic independence day fare, we got cheeseburgers, hamburgers, bratwurst, barbequed chicken, beer, water, you name it."

"Don't forget s' mores," Scott mentioned, turning his attention to Morgan who already had several glowstick wristbands on both forearms with Rhodey's assistance. "Hey, Morgan, want a s' more?"

Morgan simply smiled and nodded. "Dinner then s' more, okay, Morgan?" Pepper told her daughter as Rhodey sat back down.

"I'll grab us a few plates," Tony said, watching his family get settled before he headed towards the Bartons' house.

"Tony!" Clint called, and the Golden Avenger turned to his friend, continuing to walk backward while the bow slinger said, "Feel free to heat up the grill if the food's cold." Tony gave him a two thumbs up. "Want any help?" He asked.

"Mayb-"

"Gaaaah, Mr. Stark!" Peter interrupted, bolting over and nearly stumbling into Tony with his bubbly and energetic personality. "I gotta say, it's really good to see you, sir, I was kinda worried for a while."

"It's alright, the hero's here," Tony vocalized to Clint over Peter's rambling. "Let's walk and talk, Pete," he said, patting the teen on the shoulder and herding him towards the house.

"Hey, Morgan, all the kids playing over there," Laura said to Morgan, pointing to the field beside the house where a few lights lite up the ground so it was visible to an extent. "Do you want to go play with them?"

Morgan eyed the kids and looked at Pepper. "Can I?" She asked her mom, shyly.

"Go ahead," Pepper gave her permission, "Just be careful, it's dark."

Laura gazed over the back of her chair. "Hey, Nate!" She called, but none of the kids looked their way. "Nathaniel, can you come here for a moment!" Within a few minutes, the youngest Barton who was only about a year older than Morgan came over. "Hey, Nate, do you remember Morgan? Why don't you invite her to come play with you guys?"

Morgan and Nathaniel had met a few times. It was difficult arranging for them to see each other when the Bartons lived in Iowa and most of the other Avengers in New York, with the exception of Scott who lived in California, but many times they had come for support while Tony's condition was critical in the hospital. "Okay," Nate said, taking Morgan's hand, "Come on, Morgan!" The adults watched them run off.

"I feel like we're going to hear the screams of someone getting kicked in the face with the ball," Sam remarked, which invoked some laughs. "It happens at every gathering I'm at."

"Hey, Cooper, Lila!" Clint bellowed through the dark.

"Yeah?" The kids yelled back.

"Watch the little ones, please!" The Archer told.

"Okay!" They replied.

After that was settled and they were less stressed at the idea somebody was going to get kicked in the face, Strange asked Pepper, "How's Tony doing?"

Pepper, who usually dressed very professionally, looked extremely casual and comfy in a Stark Industries hoodie. "Tony, he's..." The CEO paused and took a breath as she tried to find the right words. "He makes the most of what he can, but every day is still a gamble. Yesterday he was doing okay, then this morning he looked really ill, but now he's fine."

Everybody fell silent, unsure of what to say. "That sounds..." Hope began, hoping to be gentle and sympathetic.

"It can be terrifying," Pepper was honest, although she was relatively calm, seemingly used to Tony's new daily life. "He can either deteriorate or improve incredibly fast, so the symptoms are extremely unpredictable. There were a few times he got so bad I thought about taking him to the hospital." A glassy and reddened look glinted in her eyes, and it was clear it was still an emotional subject at the realization that Tony had to partially suffer from erasing Thanos and his army with the gauntlet. "I mean, he's been injured and has had surgeries before, but the way this is affecting him is far different from anything before. The best way I could describe it would be a plague that isn't going away."

A few sullen glances were exchanged. "We knew what we were signing on for," Bruce meant to be reassuring, understanding the most anybody could about what Tony was going through. "I don't have it as bad as Tony, but if he was faced with the choice to do it again knowing the consequences, he wouldn't hesitate." There was an acknowledging stance lingering, the group solemnly agreeing with the statement.

"He's still here with us, that's what matters," Natasha uttered caringly as Pepper wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

Soft footsteps could be heard on the grass. "Hey, you all talking about me?" Tony probed heartfully, not really caring if they were talking about him or not. He was holding two plates of food, while Peter held one plate and a few drinks tucked under his arm.

"Yup, the miracle of you," Steve said kindly as Peter handed Pepper the plate of food.

"I feel so deeply honored," Tony reciprocated as his wife, after resting her plate on her knees, took Morgan's plate from him so he could sit down. "Hey, Peter, could you let Morgan know food's here," the engineer asked.

Before Peter could, though, the football flew overhead again, and everyone either looked annoyed or exasperated. "Alright, I'm coming over there," Sam witted, getting up and walking towards the field.

"That's like the fourth time this has happened," Natasha said, watching the ball hit the ground behind her. Peter ran to grab the football and sprinted over to Cooper, Lila, Cassie, Nathaniel, and Morgan. He crouched, handing it to Stark's daughter.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" Tony questioned, getting to his feet and walking a few feet behind the ring of camp chairs in the direction Sam went, intrigued at the kids' activities.

"You guys have terrible aim!" Bruce shouted at the kids before rubbing his forehead like he had a headache.

"But better aim than you, probably," Rhodey bantered.

Wanda chuckled, "That's cold."

"That's actually probably accurate," the scientist said.

Halted not far from where Rhodey sat, Tony projected loudly so the kids could hear. "Hey, why don't you guys play a less dangerous game, like capture the flag." Tony wasn't sure what he did, but he sure riled the kids up because there was a lot of cheerful yelling at the mention of capture the flag.

"I can't believe he just suggested that," Natasha mumbled, "That doesn't sound safe in the dark."

Tony pivoted to face the somewhat uncertain looks of the group. "What are you talking about, Nat? Capture the flag is the best. Rhodey and I used to play it all the time. Plus, they got glow sticks," he proclaimed.

"Wait, I'm confused," Scott quipped, "You played capture the flag as adults or kids?" The group laughed, including Tony and Rhodey.

"What are you two not telling us?" Strange added sarcastically.

"Hey, why don't you use Thor's hammer as the flag," Clint proposed, which enacted more chuckles.

"I like the way you think, Clint," the genius commented before he turned heel and headed towards the field where the kids where. "Alright, let's get this set up," Tony said, clapping entertainingly as he joined Sam to play with the kids.

* * *

**AVENGERS COMPOUND - JULY 7TH**

Arms crossed and leaning with his back against the glass wall, Clint glared at Natasha who was standing near the other side of the table. "I can't believe you convinced me to do this," Clint said as he, Steve, Natasha, and Bruce were gathered around a debriefing table in casual wear, going over a potential mission. Since most of the grounds remained a brown and grey debris pile, only a small portion of the Compound's Hanger to the south somehow survived. The Avengers decided to simply call it Base Camp considering it had been modified to become the team's temporary base of operations while the rest of the Compound would take at least a year to be rebuilt.

"It's just a scouting mission," the Avenger responded as she, with boredom, shifted her weight from her right foot to her left foot and repeated.

"You? What about me?" Bruce chipped in, leaning back in a chair and using his foot to rock it back and forth, "I literally have no purpose in doing this."

"Someone's gotta keep the world safe," Natasha spoke, smirking at Bruce, "Besides, we had our break."

"So, you're bored of the peace and quiet?" Clint asked, regarding the month and a half the team had spent benched after temporarily shutting down the Avengers' organization. It was the least they could do after Thanos, and it gave them time to emotionally deal with the trauma of it all. Although, Clint had stated he was retiring again, but here he was after Natasha persuaded him.

"No..." Natasha hesitantly murmured.

Steve then looked at Clint, jauntily answering, "She misses hanging out with us." Under the right amount of light, it almost looked like she blushed.

"Aw, that's sweet," Bruce noted with a fuzzy feeling.

"Anyway," she urged, moving the spotlight to something else. "We got a tip from Rhodey, Wanda, and Sam." Rhodey, Wanda, and Sam were the only ones running missions currently, occasionally with help from Peter Parker, but the kid was still a kid even if he had seen some things. "There may be a facility at a remote location in Ontario, Canada near Lake Superior that's housing stolen tech, whether it's from Earth or the Chitauri or Thanos' ship," Natasha explained as they examined holographic, aerial maps of the mentioned location.

"What do you mean Thanos' ship?" Clint questioned with a quickly worried look crawling across his face.

"Thanos' ship broke into pieces during the battle," Steve reminded as photographs of the site showed on the holograph. "It was sitting in the river for a couple of weeks during clean up, and we think there were a few parts missing afterward. With a time frame like that, it's possible there were looters since the Compound's defenses were down."

The Archer looked uncomfortable with this information. "That's not good," Clint commented, almost feeling a bit of rage at whoever ransacked their property for free after everything they had done to bring half of the universe back to life.

"No, it's not," Steve agreed, "We aren't even sure if there's anything at this location, but from our sources, it's worth a look."

"Well, if I was sorta in before, I'm definitely in now," Clint affirmed.

"We're also the closest unit to the location while Rhodey's group is overseas," Natasha noted.

Clint gazed at Bruce. "We may need some muscle, Bruce," he attempted to convince the scientist the way Natasha convinced Clint.

"I'm a lover, not a fighter," Bruce said.

"We know you are, but you help save lives," the assassin countered, giving Bruce a sad, condescending look. "Do it for the kids."

Staring at Natasha with a stumped expression, Bruce said, "You're guilt tripping me..." It soon seemed like Clint and Steve joined Natasha in the guilting tripping. Luckily, Bruce saw a familiar frame walking along the other side of the wall and come through the opened door. "Hey!" Bruce said, surprised to see Tony, which the same reaction spread to Clint, Steve, and Natasha as they saw the billionaire as well.

"You joining the party, Tony?" The bowyer asked lightly, glad to see Tony back on the grounds, although he seemed distracted.

"Huh? Nah, I'm here to get your opinion on something," Tony said, flicking his hand at the holograms over the table, making them disappear for the moment.

"Shoo away," Steve insisted respectfully.

Holding up an array of paint color options, Tony revealed, "Colors for base camp." Spreading the colors out on the table, they ranged from light greys and silvers to darker blueish-greys. After a few minutes of discussion and coming to an agreeing to disagree conclusion, Tony divulged, "Okay, it's decided. I'll just pick up some samples of each color and test them out, then you can tell me what you think after you see it on the wall."

"Sounds good to me," Clint conceded.

Pleadingly, Bruce asked as Tony gathered up all the color samples, "Can I just stay here and help paint walls?"

"No," Clint, Natasha, and Steve chorused.

"But Tony gets to opted out," the scientist said.

Tony casually muttered, "Health condition: unstable," while holding up some of the colors to the natural light coming through the windows.

"Exactly," Steve backed up his friend's defense.

Fluttering her eyes over at Tony, Natasha warmheartedly smirked, "To be honest, Tony hasn't really let that stop him before." His back was still to them as he sorted through the colors while facing the window.

"Yeah, when I was thirteen years younger and not scorched by a cosmic gauntlet," Tony mumbled, only half in the conversation. After another moment, he finally walked towards the door, gazing at his friends briefly, "Kay, have fun on your crazy mission."

"Don't you want to know what the crazy mission is?" Bruce asked towards the engineer's back, wishing Tony would stay.

"Not really," Tony affably snipped as he left, not looking back.

Once Tony was gone and they were back on subject, Steve said, "Alrighty, let's suit up."

* * *

In the corridor where the wall was parallel with windows, Tony was knelt on the ground with Morgan. There was a painting tarp under them and Morgan had a pale with a small brush. "See, you just paint along the blue tape, okay, Morgan?" Tony told as he demonstrated for Morgan, painting at the wall's base where it met the taped off trim.

"Okay," she said as Tony handed her the brush.

"Let me know if you spill any," Tony said as Morgan began copying what he showed her, but he encouraged, "But you're a wonderful artist, so you're going to do awesome." She smiled at her dad as he moved down a few feet to a different portion of the wall to paint on a different color.

As they painted, Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce eventually walked past them in uniform to access one of two Quinjets they had. Rhodey's team currently had the other one while the rest of the jets had been destroyed during the bombardment. Morgan watched the heroes aspiringly. "Nice job, Morgan," Natasha said with a grin, winking at Morgan regarding the Avenger icons she painted on the wall.

"Yeah, Tony, you could learn a thing or two from your daughter," Clint teased.

"Sure thing," Tony replied, propping himself on a knee and looking at them as he said sincerely, "Hey, be careful out there."

"Will do," Steve acknowledged, giving Tony a reassuring nod.

A few minutes after they were out of sight, Tony glanced at Morgan to see her progress. "Oh my lord..." Morgan somehow had paint on her face and at the tips of her hair, to which Tony couldn't help but gently laugh. "What happened...?" He said, grabbing a damp cloth nearby, "Don't tell your mom about this or we'll both be in big trouble." Morgan was smiling as he wiped her face off and as he did, he noticed the shadows creeping across the wall as the Quinjet took off from the grounds, blocking a few rays of sunlight. Tony shifted his attention, watching the Quinjet disappear and at that moment he felt something tug at his heart. And whatever tugged at his heart, it was an old burden and the last time he had that type of inkling, Thanos was at the other end of it. The feeling made him frown and he rubbed his eyes achingly.

"Dad, are you okay?" Tony heard Morgan mumble as she hugged him.

"Yeah," he sniffed, looking back out the window at the vast sky.

"Are you sick?" Morgan asked.

Tony put his hands on Morgan's shoulders and shallowly smiled at her. "No, Morgan, I just..." A worried look rested on his face before he decided to pull out his phone, dial a number, and lay the phone against his ear. "Happy, I need you to watch Morgan," Tony said once Happy answered.

By the time Happy arrived at Base Camp, Tony had sealed all the paint up and had Morgan playing in the gallery. "You still haven't told me what this is about," Happy said while following Tony down the hallway to the elevator that led to the armory.

"I'm sorry, I don't really have time to explain," Tony complied, walking slightly ahead of Happy in a hurry.

"Don't tell me you're going out there," Happy indicated with a bit of skepticism.

The two men rounded a corner and all Tony could do was be truthful. "I have to...I just..I have a bad feeling," he stammered with agitation, talking over his shoulder to Happy.

Happy stopped in his tracks and delivered, "Is that what you want me to tell Pepper?"

"Don't tell her," Tony implored, turning to face Happy, "Please."

To Tony's surprise, Happy looked afraid, and Tony knew exactly why. "You better come back," he finally said after a long, emotional pause. "Alive."

"Count on it," Tony consoled before he left Happy in the hallway.

Going down to the lower level, passed security to the armory that was salvaged, Tony located his arc reactor. He stared at it for a long time before he nervously placed it on his chest over his shirt. When he tapped it, the nano suit coated his body, except for his head. With a painful breath, Tony looked down at the damaged arm and partially damaged chest as it was the same suit he used to control the stones with. He never was able to manufacture a new suit since then. "How's the repulsors, F.R.I.D.A.Y?" Tony reluctantly asked.

"The right arm is severely damaged, but the repulsor is functional," F.R.I.D.A.Y said.

"Good," the Avenger huffed, returning to the surface level and reaching the outside. "Never thought I'd be putting this thing back on," he grumbled, watching the blue sky apprehensively. Tony hadn't taken off yet, instead, he paced. He had said he was done, he had stopped. That was clear when he was catatonic in the hospital and it was clear after the years of damage his body's endured, but he had reached his limit after the stones. What happened was no longer up to Tony, he had earned his rest...but that feeling in his chest wasn't going away.

"So much for putting a pin in it," F.R.I.D.A.Y commented.

The Golden Avengers tsked, "I gave you way too much personality." Tony thought long and hard about what he was about to do and he had no idea if it was going to be too much for his body to handle. It had only been eleven weeks since Thanos, and the thought of having an episode while in the field was worrisome and it scared Tony. "I can't," he muttered under his breath. This back and forth kept going until Tony realized he had no choice. "Here we go..." he sighed, disheartened as the helmet covered his head and he hastily activated the repulsors, flying in the direction of the Quinjet.

* * *

**to be continued...**

Thanks for all the support and reviews! Hope you liked the chapter.

-Learlorde


	3. Notice

**Hey!**

This is just a notice!

This story is going to be a sequel to _**Dear Mr Fantasy**_, so I am putting this story temporarily on hold until I finish **_Dear Mr Fantasy_**. I wanted the readers to know, so nobody thought I abandoned this story.

If you haven't checked out **_Dear Mr Fantasy_**, feel free to do so if you want! _**Even After All Those Years**_ will directly relate to what happens in _**Dear Mr Fantasy**_.

Thanks for all the support!

-Learlorde


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